Traffic cop role gets Prescott out of jam

The former Deputy Prime Minister stepped out of his car and spent half an hour directing the traffic after getting stuck in a jam outside East Park as people tried to leave Hull Veterans’ Weekend.

He joked with the organiser honorary alderman Brian Petch: “I may not be Humberside police and crime commissoner, but I can be a traffic cop.”

Mr Prescott, the former MP for East Hull, who briefly donned a high-visibility jacket, said: “It was a mess. Kids were getting uptight in the back of cars and adults were getting angry.

“So I thought, ‘there’s only one thing for it’.

“I decided to get in the centre of Holderness Road and direct traffic.”

“People were shouting at me, ‘good on you, John!’ Within half an hour or so the build-up was cleared and people were on their way again.”

Mr Petch said: “I was dead chuffed – that’s John. He was at the back of the queue, walked up and took over the traffic.

“It’s a community event and he fully took part in it. There was John in the middle of the island directing traffic.

“He loves the event, he goes on the swing boats, he dances to the Frank Cleveland Orchestra, but he said his wife’s leg wasn’t very good so they had a waltz instead.”